Picket reports

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(http://cisar.org/p80919.htm#pt1) Report by Joe Cisar
Subject: DC Picket Sat 9-19-98
From: wesfager@aol.com (WESFAGER)

Joe Cesar picketed solo in the morning. Second shift consisted of me and Arnie, plus a virgin picketer named Vree. We marched from 1400 - 1730. It just so happens that the Christian coalition was holding its convention down the street. We got many thumbs up from conventioners.

As in my last picket, none of the DC regualars were allowed to speak to us. But two new guys played Mutt and Jeff on Mr. Vree. Mutt seemed to come out of nowhere and intensely read all of Mr. Vree's fliers and then seemed to ask genuine questions of interest. At first we did not know whether he was a calm or a bystander. Mutt had a beard and wore a red shirt and was surely the same person Joe Cesar spoke with in the morning. Jeff came right out of the building and was openly and verbally hostile. I assume the team was flown in from LA or Clearwater to meet us as our march had been announced in the clear. The case team ignored Arnie and me and I felt sorry for Me. Vree. At one point as I passed them, I heard Jeff ask Mr. Vree if had read any of their literature. I just happened to have with me Hubbard's book on the e-meter and I couldn't resist stepping in. Speaking of literature I said, have you seen this book and I showed Jeff Hubbard's picture of a man losing 30 pounds by eliminating unwanted thoughts. I asked him if he believed this stuff and on and on we went with Jeff raising his voice, telling me to get a life, being verbally hostile, etc.--building into what I perceived as a bull-bait so I walked off. It was really frightening. Not frightening to me personally that he might pull what happened to Bob Minton in Boston or to Roland Ashberry in England. It was frightening to know that somebody might join the Church of Scientology in good faith only ultimately to be bull-baited by someone like Jeff. Where I was in the open and could easily walk away, I wonder about a scientologist behind closed doors in a bull-baiting session. Hubbard had clearly stated that you can lose mass by eliminating thoughts. Jeff's position was, to me, indefensible so he resorted to trying to over-power me with his voice to defend his position. I have met many scientologist in my pickets--many with happy faces. But I wonder if the Jeff's are telling us who these people really are--after all he was 50% of today's retalitory force. And the Boston Globe calls this group anti-intellectual. Wes Fager

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San Jose picket report 9/19/98 - From: hkhenson@netcom.com (Keith Henson)

I go there at 8:40 this morning. There were 8 cars in the parking lot, so I expect that those belong to the people on the "fire watch" who live in the org.

By 9:15 there were 20 cars, and it peaked out around 35. This is down
considerable from last year if I remember the number of cars right.

Incidentally, the folks who are showing up at the org now are largely ones who have been there a considerable length of time. The org sent out one 27 year in scn dude who would not identify himself for fear of being made fun of on the net. While he was talking to me a *psychology* student came along and stayed for about an hour, curious about the pyschological aspects of our favorate cult.

While I was talking to the scn and the psych student, Brent Stone came along and started picketing. The scn gave up and went back in after saying that he knows all the scns who have picketed my house and (he says) that none of them have been shaken by the experience. :-)

About 11 am Jim W. joined the picket, so I left them, and put in a short picket at the mission over on Winchester.

There was a short picket at my house this morning which the neighbors reported as one of the more inept pickets they have seen. They left before I got back shortly after noon. Keith Henson

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Subject: Auditors' Day Picket, CCDallas, 19 seP 98

I arrived at 5:00pm, to cover the transition from courseroom time to the event. I wanted to leave the taste of "someone breaking the spell to believe" in their mouths for the event. Auditors' Day is a very special event, validating those Scientologists who most seriously seek to help others. They are so steeped in "how right" the church is, and cloistered from the entheta caused by Scientology.

After course let out, several people sat out on the front porch for idle chat. The people driving by cheering me had to ring in the Scientologists' ears for several seconds. A good thing, to let them sense that there are those who understand Scientology is a farce. People were literally shouting encouragement to me. Shouts of "I agree with you!" carried across to the members, creating an entheta environment. In the course of two hours, three people parked their cars and came up to talk to me. They had seen me picket this summer in 106-degree weather and wondered where I had gone. An increasing number of drivers-by honk or yell their agreement, and hold their fist up.

[snip]
One old-timer, a woman, thought she would do an incognito bullbait on me--pretending she was a curious public. She asked me why I claimed "Scientology is Fraud". I indulged her for a while until it became apparent. I popped the test question, "Are you a Scientologist?" She could not deny it. I cited her tone at antagonism and covert hostility and walked away. She drove on in for the event. Her "scolding mom" valence was exposed and I think she had to perceive that her's was a contrived gesture to make me wrong. I recognized her actions by having observed my own instances of ser-facking over a number of years. Putting their delusions "in their face" cures Scientology (to quote some ARS poster). [snip] --David Alexander

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Arizona Picket Report, 9-19-98 - From: bpetty@primenet.com (BP)

Auditor's Day drew a big crowd in Mesa, as well as a good picket.

Deana Holmes was in town and joined Jeff Jacobsen, a friend of of Jeff's (who took pictures), Kathy and myself - 5 wogs at cause. We worked the street from 5:30 to 6:30, then had an SP dinner.

There was a peak car-count of 39 vehicles, including vans for Rescue Rooter and some kind of insect control named Bugger Off, or some such. Besides the impressive display of professions, the Co$ members showed their class by nearly running down some of our party from behind, while turning into the Borg parking lot.

There was an ASU football game 5 miles down the road, traffic was very heavy and very supportive of the anti-Co$ sentiment.

The $cienos had set up some tables in back of the building - a sad dirt lot, very depressing. Stats must be down. We had a great time.

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San Francisco Picket Report, Sat. Sept. 11, 1998
From: me@primenet.com (kEvin)

Ok. Our handler has been in for 25 years. He's very, very good at changing the topic. He managed to completely evade a whole series of contradictions in either the tech or policy by changing the subject. He didn't like my $360,000 sign at all. He said that he was on OT5 and had only paid 40-50K, but conceded that he'd done almost all of his OT levels as a staff member. he's extremely earnest and I found him boring. When the topic moved to errors in Dianetics, I called Kristi over, because she'd mentioned carrying a copy of it that had the bogosity highlighted. Unfortunately, she didn't bring it that day. When I realized that between the two of them I wouldn't get a word in edgewise for some time, I resumed strolling the sidewalk.

Later, I walked by on the tail end of the conversation and the topic had moved to harassment. Jim had just arrived, and I pointed out that Jim's parents had been picketed and harassed although they didn't have anything to do with Jim's actions. In a rare and unsettling display of honesty, he said that he approved, because any action taken to stop suppression was just. (paraphrased quite a bit, I think someone else got the exact wording.) Jim then managed to get involved in the conversation, and I went back to picketing.

There were lots of people going in and out of the org, only a small number that I recognized. Staff turnover must be pretty high. [snip] kEvin

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San Francisco Picket Report, Sat. Sept. 19, 98 - realpch@aol.com (Realpch)

It was hot and sunny in the Bay Area, another fine day for a picket of the San Francisco Scientology Org. The regulars, Jour and Phr were there, plus a couple of guest SP's from the South Bay, Jim and Elvis.

I got there really late, but I still got there before Phr did. [snip]
There was actually very little activity out of the Org. It disgorged one amiable fellow in rubber sandals who spent what seemed an eternity discussing fine points of ethics with Elvis. I kept coming by to listen, and apparently interrupting just as Elvis was about to score a point. I couldn't help myself. Later on Elvis wondered just where my behaviour would be on the tone scale.

But the poor Scientologist admitted to being in for 25 years, and yet showed a remarkable ignorance of recent events! He had never heard of the term "Snow White" as applied to any Scientology activity. This sort of density does make me impatient. I asked him when he was going to mention our overts, and he responded more or less that the universe would take care of them. I also made some reference to "enemies" and Scientology's obsession with them. He considered that I was treating himself as an enemy by picketing. I pointed out that I was picketing an organization, not individuals. He indicated that he thought that everyone pursues their enemies with vengence. Clearly years of indoctrination had left him unable to believe that some people don't behave in that fashion.

As Elvis said, "He had his TR's in." He was impenetrable. The poor guy! Hooked at an early age, and strung out on rationalization. Oh well. Jour and Elvis did their best with him. [snip] Peach

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Subject: picket report, 9/19/98, San Francisco
From: humanrights@racerrecords.com (Kristi Wachter)

Full Report

SUMMARY:
Suppressives: Jim, Elvis, Peaches, phr, and me
Date/Time: 9/19/98, about 11:40 am until almost 2 pm
Handouts: fliers (sucker/law, mint/law, "Why I Picket", criminal
allegations, Lisa, Xenu, new tiny ones), suckers, mints, Attorney General postcards
Tools: sign, disposable camera, tape recorder, bag-o-suckers-n-mints
Weather: sunny and warm Foot Traffic: steady Street Traffic: steady
Scn Response: new handler (see below); no Stress Test table or body routers; don't know if they picketed me or not
General Passerby Response: very favorable
Stats: 32 mint/law fliers; 49 suckers and 29 sucker/law fliers; 0 "Why" fliers; 8 Lisa fliers; 2 Xenu fliers; 36 Attorney General postcards; 1 "is $cn breaking the law" flier - plus a bunch of uncounted "$cientology hurts people" mini-fliers. Total: 108 fliers/postcards.

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Picket in Edinburgh, 21 Sep 98, From "Anne"

Chickened out at last moment. Picketed down the road. End of Princes street. Lots shoppers. Lisa Leaflets - 150. Started 11am. Finished 1pm. Walked past org when done. Should have done it there.

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Subject: Picket report, Minneapolis, 9/23/98
From: Xenubat@primenet.com (Bat Child (Sue M.))

SUPPRESSIVES: Me and Chris.
LENGTH OF PICKET: Approximately 1 hour (11:50 am-about 12:55 pm).

Well, after what happened after our last picket when we were followed by the new CAN VP and her Scieno buddy, I notified the police about 9:30 am and let them know that me and another person were planning to picket the Scn org starting at about 11:45 am, and mentioned that two Scn members tried to follow me home after the last picket (and that I'd filed a police report about it) and I also mentioned that there had been incidents of physical attacks on picketers by Scn members in other cities. I also brought along a cellular phone which I kept plainly visible the whole time I was picketing.

I met Chris at Peavey Plaza outside Orchestra Hall about 11:45 am. I had my usual sign ("Scientology: Space Alien Scam" and "Does the Bridge really cost $360,000?") and my usual flyers (Xemu, Lisa, Scam, Minneapolis/Poole). I was wearing one of my Weekly World News T-shirts--a black one with a picture of the U.S. flag with a space alien's head on top of where the stars are and, underneath, the phrase, "The truth unfolds...". I also had one of my clip-on "body thetan" miniature dolls but it wound up being partially covered up by my jacket! :-/ Chris had originally wanted to make a "sandwich board" type of picket sign but didn't have enough time to finish it, so he held his signs together with his hands (didn't have a picket handle). His signs said "Scientology hurts people" and (I think) "L. Ron Hubbard says 'There was no Christ'--from 'Assists' lecture". He also had copies of a slightly modified version of JourO's "Why I'm Picketing $cientology" flyer. We went with our signs and flyers and stood outside the org.

It was actually fairly quiet at first; there wasn't quite as much pedestrian traffic as at other pickets, but then the weather was a little chilly and windy and the sky was overcast so there weren't quite as many folks eating their lunch outdoors (there also weren't any free concerts outside Orchestra Hall today); but pedestrian traffic was still pretty steady. We saw the older gentleman Scieno from Wisconsin, who had had a lengthy conversation with Chris at an earlier picket, leave the org at about 12:00 noon with a woman; we said hello to him but he barely said anything to us. Several other Scienos walked by us into the org; they generally ignored us, but two different women muttered things like "You guys are pathetic, really pathetic!" as they walked by us into the org; I think one of them was "Diane", the woman who had previously berated Chris at an earlier picket, demanding that he show his driver's license.

Then at about 12:40 pm a tall, skinny, youngish Scieno woman with long hair came out. At first I thought she was the "CAN VP" who was following us at the last picket because they kind of looked alike and they both had long fingernails--of course I'd notice that sort of thing because mine are all chewed off! ;-)--but apparently this was a different person. She had a picket sign saying "Register to vote"! In a really snotty tone of voice (which she generally maintained the whole time she was out with us), she introduced herself as "Cynthia Kicker"--obviously a pretty lame-brained take-off on old CAN head and Scn archenemy Cynthia Kisser's name! She announced that she was going to picket with us. After taking a picture of us and taking one of each of our flyers, she starts asking Chris the usual "Where do you get your information from?", etc. Then she said to me, "Oh, Sue, are you all right? You look like you're sick!" I answered, "No, I'm fine." Well, Chris and I didn't really want her standing there getting in our faces the whole time so we decided to start walking back and forth.

She started walking alongside Chris (I was about 4 feet behind) and was asking Chris what Scn books he'd read and he mentioned that he'd read part of "What Is Scientology?" and "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health"; then she asked him, "Well, what does that little weasel have to say?". Chris says, "Who?" She said, "You know, your friend behind us, that little weasel, I want to hear what she has to say--you know, she's all pale, she looks like she's really ill or something!" (snarf!) Like I was supposed to be really crushed by some lame insult like that! (I will admit that I *am* pretty light-skinned and I can never get a decent suntan, only sunburned, but that's probably something I inherited from one of my Irish ancestors or something, and it's certainly no big deal to me--at least I didn't get that way from slaving away for 16 hours/day inside a Scn org!)

Chris asked "Cynthia" what level she was at and she snapped, "It's none of your business!" Then a passerby, a young guy, came up and took one of our flyers and asked why we were protesting. "Cynthia" said something about us being religious bigots or something like that and that all of our information was lies from the Internet. The pedestrian asked us what religion we were and we replied that we were Christian and then Chris referred to his flyer about how LRH was anti-Christianity and that Scientologists are eventually told they must choose between Scn and whatever religion they previously followed. Well, "Cynthia" went ballistic! She starts yelling at the top of her lungs, "That is ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT!! How DARE you malign my God by saying something like that! Me and my husband are both Methodists and our kids go to Sunday school! I've been a Scientologist for 13 years and I'm also a Methodist! You're a FUCKING LIAR!!" Chris mentioned the "No Christ" quote from LRH and also the quote from LRH about Mohammed being a "small town booster"; she asked Chris where he heard those quotes and Chris said they were on tapes of LRH's lectures that an ex-Scn friend of his had. "Cynthia" was still madder than a hornet and, addressing the passerby (who probably didn't know what hit!), yelled something like, "Well, he is totally wrong! We have people who are Scientologists and Christians, who are Scientologists and Jewish, who are Scientologists and Islamic! He's just a religious bigot who doesn't know what the FUCK he's talking about!!" The young guy must have felt sorry for "Cynthia" or something (or else he didn't want to be on the receiving end of her wrath!), as he said to us, "Well maybe you guys should leave them alone and let them practice their beliefs," or something like that, then left. Chris remained totally calm throughout this whole tirade, and I, as usual, maybe said about two words; Xenu knows how many people walked by and heard all this, though! There was a cop who was walking by and he came up to us and said, "You guys are free to picket, but just make sure you aren't blocking the sidewalk." We said, "Sure, no problem." I did notice that there seemed to be more cops around our area (police cars driving down Nicollet Mall and police on foot), which was really nice! :-)

Chris said to her afterwards, "Looks like I struck a nerve there!" She snapped, "No you didn't! I'm just sick of people like you going around spreading a bunch of lies about a subject which you know absolutely NOTHING about!" Then at one point, Chris had dropped some of his flyers and "Cynthia" snatched them up; Chris asked if he could have them back and she said, "NO!" Chris just said, "That's all right, I can always get more copies." "Cynthia" eventually calmed down somewhat, though she pretty much stayed at around 1.9 (hostility) on the Tone Scale. She said something to Chris about Jesse "The Body" Ventura running for governor of Minnesota. She was also bragging about how great her "picket" sign looked--"It's two-toned color, a real nice wooden handle"; I acked that it did probably look better than my own hand-made number, though I doubt she really cares what a sickly little weasel like me thinks! :-) She also had to make a point of repeating her "name"--"It's Cynthia Kicker!" The man from Wisconsin had returned; he saw Chris's "Scientology hurts people" sign and said something like, "Ooh, ooh, yes, I stubbed my toe on a Scientology book and I hurt myself!" We also saw another Scieno who we saw at the previous picket going out to have a cigarette, but he ignored us.

Response from pedestrians was all favorable; one woman told us that she had gone into the Scn org once and she managed to get on their mailing list and got deluged with Scn junk mail, and that her dad even called them up and bitched them out demanding that they remove her name from their mailing list and they still wouldn't stop! We got a number of thumbs up and "I agree!". One couple stopped and each took one of our flyers while "Cynthia" was with us and they told us right in front of her, "You guys are doing a great thing--keep it up!" :-) I'm not sure how many flyers Chris handed out but I handed out about 27 Xemu flyers.

Chris had to leave, so at about 12:55 we decided to call it a day. "Cynthia" was still out there and so we told her we were leaving. This time we weren't followed by anyone. :-) Sue,
(http://members.cox.net/batchild1/)

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First post about first internet picket

Subject: Protest outside Canberra Org
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 1995

Howdy people!
March the 13th was yesterday, and I spent 4 hours (from 10 am - 2pm) outside the cult org in Canberra. I was equipped with a sign on a stick which said

SAY NO TO SCIENTOLOGY
and
RELIGION OR SCAM
on the back.

As I moved into position, I was immediately hassled by a cultie. He was waiting methinks. I started to hand out pamphlets and started my 'STOP THE SCAM THAT IS SCIENTOLOGY' cry.

Within 5 minutes a bearded man came out armed with a camera and began photographing me without my permission. A few minutes later a van pulled out of a side alley and the driver began to videotape me, also without permission.

This of course startled the shoppers who walked past the org and urged more of them to get a pamphlet from me and read it!

The driver of the van pulled out and reappeared (unbeknownst to me) hiding behind a lamp pole and video taping me again.

Several culties came to get a pamphlet. You can tell a cultie as their first questions are
"Whats your name?"
and
"Who do you represent/work for?".

After a while the cameraman, who was getting more stares from the public then he cared for, elected instead to sit on the steps that lead up to the floor where his org rents office space. Surprisingly, several co-tenents came out of the building and said I was doing a good job and it was about time someone stood up to them and took pamphlets.

As the camera rolled on from the steps of their org, I came out with a new cry.
"HELP STOP SCIENTOLOGY AND HELP STOP THAT PERSON FROM VIDEOING ME! READ WHAT THEY DONT WANT YOU TO READ!".

This worked very well indeed. I admit that I may have looked the lone nutter, but as people say the video, more and more came out to support me and take pamphlets.

At this stage, the cult began a new tact. A woman came out and started to question me. She also asked the camera man to come closer. At this stage I said I was not here to be interviewed and I did not give the cameraman permission to shoot the video. She sent him away and continued to ask questions about what I know about Scientology and if I have ever been audited. I pointed out to her that I did not have to eat dog poo to realise it was bad for me. That I did not have to stick my head in a blazing fire to know it would be bad for me. She then asked if I have a permit. I told her this was Australia and protests were legal. She then said but the police said that you will only be here for 2 hours. I said she lied as I informed the police that I would be there from 10 to 2. It was at this stage that I removed the number the police officier gave me if they began to harrass me and I asked a member of the large crowd that had built up behind her and her lackey to call the police as I was being harrassed. They opted to withdraw.

I continued to distribute pamphlets and at about twenty to two, a who wave of culties came out of the org. There was about 5 or six of them. The man with the video kept walking around me at 5 feet circles while the others attempted to shout me down. This of course attracted more attention from the public and I gave away more pamphlets.

When 2 arrived, I packed up and left. I put a few pamphlets on a few car windscreens and went back to my car to watch. Sure enough, out came the scienos in force and they began to remove them from the cars that I had put them on.

When I got to work, they told me that my boss has had a call from the culties and they asked her if she knew where I was. I had taken recreation leave for the day. I had also told her what I was planning to do and she said dont get killed.

I did not get killed, but I stirred the hornets nest. I upset them greatly. In fact, I think I enturbulated them.
If you protested outside an org, write it up on the board! Ashraf

From: axg708@cscgpo.anu.edu.au (Ashraf Ghebranious)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: 6 years on...
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 13:00:15
Message-ID: axg708.400.000D0119@cscgpo.anu.edu.au

It has almost been 6 years since I first stumbled upon this newsgroup. At the time, you would have been lucky to get 30 posts a week! Most of the time was dedicated to some interested Kibologists who wanted to know why Hubbard had ripped them off.

Then those who have been in hiding for so long began to get net aware and I began to read first hand accounts of the doings of the cult. I was appalled! I read about a guy in the states who had decided to hold a protest outside a cult org. He was, as you can imagine, harassed and humilated, but he did protest. At the same time, the cult began it's attack on Dennis. And so, I got a little leaflet together, (posted a copy here I think), and called for a international day of protest. I was told a good day would be in March on Hubbies birthday even!

So I asked my friends to come along, but they declined out of fear. Not that they knew anything about the cult; they just got twitchy when I said the word 'cult'.

So I went and did my protest. I got up the nose of a lot of scientologists and got video taped for around 3 hours. Never did send me a copy for my folks the buggers!

I got back to the net and related my experiences as did others who took a stand. I belive that year, a total of 20 people braved the cult with signs and leaflets.

Last year, over 500 people worldwide attended active protests of the cult. Thats a growth rate Hubbie would have envied. Ashraf

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Subject: Picket report, Mountain View, 9/24/98
From: humanrights@racerrecords.com (Kristi Wachter)

Keith and I took a nice one-hour walk in Mountain View today. We got WAY more acks (honks and waves) than I've ever gotten there before, and we gave out a few fliers, mostly to people exiting the parking lot where the Dianetics Foundation is or the lot right next to it.

Keith and I had a lovely chat, and I got some much-needed exercise. We were there from about 3 pm until around 4 pm.

There are no signs that I was picketed in retaliation; my neighbors didn't mention anything (but then that's not necessarily a reliable indicator), and no DA fliers were in my foyer. Kristi
(http://members.aol.com/jour0/)

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[Multiple reports]
Subject: Picket Report San Jose 9/22/98
From: hkhenson@netcom.com (Keith Henson)

Arthur Dent and Zaphod happened to be in town today, and wanted to put in a picket at the San Jose Org. So, I checked about to see if anyone else wanted to picket. Elvis did, so we wound up with the org getting a four person picket from 4:25 to 6:10.

It was a very good picket, though rather non-confront from the scns. We had by far the most traffic and support from the traffic I have seen, i.e., *many* honks and thumbs up. I counted the cars when we started and again at 5:30. 27 both times.

I had heard recently that the scns were working on a new "tech" so they could picket homes without some critic reading OT3 to them. When I got home after our picket, I found out how. There was a lone glassy eyed picketer out in front of my place with a Walkman turned up to the max. I pulled out my sign and walked with him for a few minutes and then just had to quit because I was very concerned about him. I could hear the sound *loud* every time he passed me and I knew he was doing serious damage to his hearing. I hope he turned it down after I went inside. If they keep this up, a new characteristic of scientologists is going to be deafness!

I really wonder if the scns have any conception of how silly they look picketing while destroying their ears? Keith Henson

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Subject: San Jose Picket, 98/09/22
From: Arthur Dent adent@universe.org

I fished my canteen out of my backback, my cellular telephone, my beeper, my tape recorder, quite a bit of military electronics, one of my cheapest cameras, and a couple of rolls of film, slung everything onto my belt, and headed off for the picket.

We turned right onto Rosemary, as I recall, hoping in breathless anticipation that Keith would be on time. He was. Ford said, "Note the picket" so I squinted until I found movement and noted the picket. Strong hand shakes all the way around and we got straight to business. Neither of us picket but Keith had thought to bring several extra picket signs so Ford ran over to his station wagon, picked through them for the best, came and gave me one -- which I loved. It said something about "space cooties" on one side and, on the other side, gave a totally indecipherable, drug-induced phrase from Scientology's dead "savior" covering "OT 8." This is stuff that the psyche pukes in the Air Force called "verbal salad."

Traffic along Rosemary was moderate to light at times with just a little foot traffic. It looks like there's a woman's shelter or something next to the cult so there were a number of families going in and out of the neighborhood.

Immediately after Ford and I joined the picket, we were greeted by an uncountable number of thumbs-ups, "okay" signs, smiles and waves, some outright gut-busting laughter and nods from guys who should pay more attention to their driving, and one "power" fist raised with the black guy inside yelling out his window "Right On!"

Jeeze, Scientology! What the fuck did you do to these people to make them hate you guys so much? One person yelled out the car window, "I hate those guys!"

I mean there was a school bus that came down the street on its way to First and the *driver* waved and bleeped her horn, with all three of the kids inside waving their arms out the window yelling "Yeah! Yeah!" A truck driver bleeped his horn and waved and Keith told me that the truck driver does that every day he passes the picket.

It might be annoying to some to learn that we were having a great time during the picket. Keith -- that bastard -- had a grin the whole time while he waved to the passing cars with his patented Thetan Hand technology. I picked up on that and started waving, too. It gets people to pay attention to your sign (space cooties!) and after they read it, I *always* got a smile and a return wave. In fact we were having such a good time that Ford stopped me and said, "Get that grin off your face! This is serious! We're being shuddered into silence!"

Bill something or another drove up, parked along the opposite side of the road, and spent some quality time with us. He must be one of you guys because he was grins all around, shook our hands, had truthful things to say about the cult, took photographs of the picketing (space cooties!) and communed with us for a time. He left after about five minutes or so, I would guess.

Inside, the *victims* of Scientology were studiously ignoring us. We got photographs of what must have been some high-ranking Scientologists since their cars weren't beat to shit like everyone else's cars were. They tried their best to ignore us, too. I can't say as I blame them, really. Keith knew his Tech and all about the dead bodies and the criminal activities the cult engages in so I can well imagine why they would not want to actually come out and talk with anybody who pays attention to the many investigative reports on the cult.

Eventually Kevin something or another came and parked in front of Keith's station wagon and resumed his volunteer community service, holding a picket sign that said, "Stop hurting people" or something like that. It looked like Kevin something or another had some good picket Tech to share: His picket sign had a roll of paper on one side, it looked like, so that if a topic came up, he could roll the old picket sign's text out of the way and write-in something when ever the creative muse hits. There's some real dedication being exhibited there, and some real smarts: If Scientology *would* stop hurting people, the pickets would stop. The embarrassing public exposures would also stop.

I've never done a picket before in my life and, at my age, I doubt I'll find a reason to ever picket again, but this one was wonderfully amusing and fun. The response from the public was *entirely* positive; not a single negative word or gesture from anybody. I've seen people picket before, of course, but *never* have I seen the general public respond so favorably to picketers before. I would have to blame that factor upon the many exposures of the cult on television, radio, newspapers, and Time Magazine, I think. From Miss Bloodybutt to the latest Dateline exposure, what Scientology does is getting exposed and *the*whole*world* hates these murderous Nazis. Stop it, Scientology. Just stop it and these pickets will stop immediately as will the embarrassing public exposures in the media. Just stop it.

There *was* some interaction between a few Scientologists and the Gang of Four Suppressive Persons, by the way. A little bit, anyway. Ford asked what appeared to be a high-ranking Scientologist to smile, please, if he still knew how so that he could take a photograph. The guy was getting into his car at the time and he said something to Ford that I didn't hear. Ford said something like, "Your mother doesn't seem to think so." Ford told me a few minutes later that the high-ranking Scientologist guy had called him a "creep."

Hey? Isn't Scientology supposed to do something with that reactive mind thing or something? Name-calling? I see Scientologists live their lives on the preschool play ground, huh?

One old timer was driving out of the cult's offices and Ford took his photograph. I think the old guy said something but Ford just told the guy to be sure to buckle up, drive safely, and don't drive angry. I gave the guy one of Kevin's patented Thetan Hand waves and the guy yelled out of his car (which was beat to shit, of course; no high-ranking Scientologist, was that one) that we were wasting our time.

Now, now, man. Perhaps Scientologists consider doing useful community service and alerting the general public about a criminal scam is a waste of time but I happen to think that the world needs more of this kind of "time wasting."

One poor victim of the cult left the offices on foot and started walking down the drive way, eventually turning left towards the other major highway. I admit it: I was enjoying myself. I called out, "OT 8! Get your free OT 8 here! Lady, would you like some free OT 8?"

The poor woman. She didn't deserve this. She was totally unprepared to handle Suppressive Persons offering them free "Sekrut Rituals." She told me I was crazy.

Well! I guess that's my free personality test, huh? And I didn't even have to fill in a form or anything.

So many things ran through my mind. Should I ask for a second opinion? Should I see if she has a license to practice sidewalk psychology? What if I flunk her and ask her to start again? Would I have to pay her for her Auditing? Should I ask her where I could go for therapy? Would she know a good place? Would Prozac help my condition? So many questions I thought to ask. Instead, I thought I would try again: "But it's free!" I said.

In a surrealistic twist of events, she informed me that *I* could use some OT 8. Well! Yet another thousand questions ran through my reactive mind. Considering the $360,000 price tag, I could never *afford* OT 8. Should I ask if she would float me a loan? Should I check to see if all of her bank accounts are empty yet, a double mortgage on her house yet, and every credit card she owns maxed out yet? Or could she float me a loan. I'm good for it: After obtaining OT 8 powers and blowing Clear of my masses, I should be able to pick any horse race,you know? Should I ask if she could help a guy out?

Well, "fight surrealism with surrealism," I always say. I informed the poor cult victim that I would *love* to have some OT 8, thanks. I could use the money, I informed her.

*BLOINK!* There was a brief flicker of "Norman Coordinate" working its way across the poor woman's brow as her smoothly functioning lines of programming code were momentarily disrupted. She pivoted robotically on one well-worn heel and goose-stepped off into the setting Sun. Poor woman. She didn't deserve what happened to her, I honestly believe.

WHY ISN'T THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT HELPING THESE PEOPLE?! Don't we have bunko *laws* against taking advantage of the gullible any more? Why has the government abandoned these people and left it up to the public to try to help them?

I wonder if the victims inside the cult offices realized that we could see them through the tinted windows when the Sun hits them at the right time of day. I honestly believe they don't realize we can see them behind the tinted window. With my eyesight the way it is (can Scientology fix that?) I couldn't see if they were making faces or masturbating or anything but they really need to *think* about what they try to hide and maybe stop doing it if it's embarrassing. Just stop it, Scientology. Just stop it.

One victim was walking out to his car and just didn't seem able to stop himself from slowing down and reading my "space cooties" sign. I saw him indirectly, reflected in the windshield of the car parked on our side of the street, you see. Poor guy. He probably has no idea what "space cooties" means since it didn't look like he could afford a cup of coffee leave alone the OT 3 scam.

Ever helpful, I turned my sign around and said, "Here! Let me help you read the *other* side!" The poor guy. He jolted to a stop, pivoted robotically away from the "free OT 8! get your free OT 8!" extract on the picket and refused to look. Hell, there's another two or three thousand bucks shot on Auditing after he explains to his Ethics Officer how he accidentally read about space cooties and OT 8. Sure, it wasn't his fault: It was Xenu's fault for sending those ARSCC agents out to tempt him but you think his EO is going to care? Hardly! "No sex, then the bed wetting, and now this. Man, I'm *never* gonna get Clear!"

Another poor guy came out -- an old timer -- and he kind of did a lot of really strange things, sniffing around the plants outside of the building and trying his best to avoid looking at us. This guy eventually ended up in the trash. Literally. I have no idea what the hell he was doing but when I noticed him standing in the cult's trash bin, my teeth *ached* with desire to get a photograph of the guy. It was like a flashback to my Vietnam days when I ruined a guy's day with an unexpected sidewinder from his four o'clock high. "Oh pleeze! Oh pleeze! Don't move... don't notice me flying around up here digging desperately for my camera... Hold hold hold tone 'fuck you, Red Baron!' and I had my camera out *snap*." Got 'em both. Oh man, light 'em if you got 'em. I'll have to give the film to someone to have them posted to the Web, I think, but a photograph of a Scientologist voluntarily in a trash bin has got to be worth a lot, right?

Now if I could just get a picture of one of them standing in a toilet...

We did about an hour and a half of community service, the four of us. The Scientologists kept the trees watered nicely so that we have plenty of shade. My concerns about having left my hat behind were for naught. Someone mentioned something about "sprinkler tech" which, while not strictly in L. Ron Hubbard's written works, is a useful add-on to help cool-off summer-time picketers. Sadly, the cult may not have enough money to pay the water bills since they've been letting the ivy die. Still, the plants that they *are* watering are nice; flowers of many different colors and variety mixed in nicely with light green grass, rimmed with shaded ivy: It's certainly a very nice place to picket, I must say. The trees offer good shade while at the same time they're high enough so that picket signs held proudly don't smack into tree limbs.

We busted up, shaking hands and going our own ways. Ford and I went back to the bowling lanes, observing the green car with a Scientologist Mafia Goon driving in it, looking for us (and driving recklessly, I'll add.)

Ya' got to wonder what these fascist goons are told to think. These goons must have been told that even though they're buying virtually off-the-shelf radios with *ahem* "useful features," nobody else can understand them. Helpful Hint #7, clams: Science wins out against Hubbard "tech" every time. Unless you're radiating you-know-what or you-know-what-else stuff, technology will "pull you in" and the evil psyche conspiracy -- which has full RF cognition, I assure you -- hears all and understands all. Ain't *real* technology wonderful? Expect more of it.

"That one's the female," I said, "Eleven O'clock." That must be her in the green car. She was on the move (a mistake, dear. The opposition was on foot! Stay stationary and position more people next time. Move only when the opposition becomes mobile) circling the block looking for two you-know-what's in "Scientology Kills" T-Shirts and didn't see us. They some how missed seeing us go into the bowling lanes where we changed our shirts. Woops! After we "made" the goon in the green car, we changed direction for the pickup.

Man but was she one surprised clam when she *accidentally* drove past Ford's parked car, slammed on her breaks, then put it into reverse. I waved my purple box and smiled, the Mafia Goon grimaced and had no choice but to waved back. How embarrassing! Go see your Ethics Officer, dear.

Did she recognize what I was holding? Nope. She drove toward the cult's offices and, since she knew we made her, passed us off to the other Mafia Goon in the redish brown car. That worthy fascist Nazi was even easier to spot. A message on the radio -- "Okay, I got them" -- and an unexpected U-Turn dug that one out from under its rock. Damn it, the fascist Nazi didn't follow us onto the highway. We had pulled immediately over to the shoulder, I had leaped out, and had the camera and tape recorder plugged into my purple box all ready to go (even though I'm told some of these Scientologists don't show up on photographic negatives.)

Oh: I forgot to mention that two guys came up to me and asked what this picket was all about. I stammered something out about Lisa McPhearson and, I'm sorry to say, was downstat. I screwed up since I didn't know the details so Kevin something or another took over and, together with Keith, covered the salient points, giving the two fliers. I was able to contribute at the beginning, though. I showed these guys my "free OT 8! Get your free OT 8!" and asked them, "It doesn't make much sense, huh?" to which both replied with enfurrowed brows, "uh, well, no." "Yeah," I said, "that's one of the reasons why we're out here."

http://www.tiac.net/users/martyo/sanjose.htm - More pictures
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Subject: San Jose Picket, September 22, 1998
From: Ford Zaphod Prefect ford_prefect@milliways.net

For evil to flourish, all that is required is that good people do nothing to oppose it. Therefore in good conscience I can no longer merely read about the criminal, immoral, and unethical actions of the Scientology business. I chose to picket one of the business' franchises.

I (Ford Zaphod Prefect) borrowed a critic's pickup (he wanted to go with us but had to go to work that day) and picked up another critic (Arthur Trillian Dent), and drove to San Jose. We planned on starting the picket at 4:30 PM, but we got to the franchise at around two o'clock. With nothing better to do for over two hours, we went to a local bowling ally and did four games. We then walked to the Scientology franchise building, as we did not know if there would be parking available nearer the franchise.

At 4:30 PM we showed up at the franchise and found KH picketing already. Fortunately he had two more picket signs with him, since Arthur and I neglected to make some for ourselves. (My next picket will have me wielding a large sign that reads "FEAR SCIENTOLOGY!" on both sides: easy to read from passing cars.) Arthur and I introduced ourselves to KH, picked up picket signs, and started to walk back and forth. The bushes along the sidewalk are a bit in need of a trim, but it was not a problem. The trees overhead made it a pleasant walk.

The franchise's perpetrators (staff) and their victims (gullible / ignorant) pretty much ignored us, though several came out of the franchise, went in, and drove past us while coming and going. The few that did not avoid us like a "plague of truth" (to coin a phrase) were extremely distressed at seeing us.

One member of the franchise (see a.b.s. under "creep.jpg" later today or tomorrow) was enturbulated to such an extent that I pushed his buttons and played him like a piano. So much for overcoming his "reactive mind!" He came out and I asked him, as I raised my camera, to smile for me.

"Give us a BIG smile, now!" He snarled and said "You know, you're a creep! You don't KNOW me! You're a creep!"

"Ah, but I =DO= know you. I know all about you," I said in my best OTVIII voice.

"You really are a creep!" he replied.

"Aww, that's not what your mother thinks of me!" I informed him.

"But... but you're a creep! Just a creep!" (He clearly should have memorized some catchy insults before he started the confront.)

"That's no way to talk to your mother's lover and your future father-in-law!" I said.

"You're a creep!" (Geezuz, this was getting old.)

"I'm going to tell your mother you have been calling me a creep." I warned him.

"Yeah, well...." the guy said, and then walked back into the franchise. I assume this was meant to be some kind of "bull baiting" exercise. I felt the urge to yell at him "Flunk! Start over!"

A bloke named Kevin came to picket with us, bringing his own sign.

The picket continued. Some lady drove out of the franchise's parking lot and up to Arthur and called him "crazy." He in turn offered to give to her the entire OTVIII course material for free, out of the goodness of his heart, and thus save her some US$360,000 in one pop. Her reply: "You're crazy!" (Scientology staff sure do sound like broken records.)

So what is crazier: spending US$360,000 for nothing of value, or receiving for free nothing of value?

An old man, ripe for off-loading, wailed that us picketers were "wasting [our] time." Considering the positive support from people driving and walking past us, we most certainly were NOT wasting our time. One woman said that Scientologists frightened her. Two off-duty law enforcement officers wanted to know everything we could tell them about the Scientology business (we handed over some fliers to them, and told them to read www.xenu.net for the details). Indeed, our community service was not at all a "waste of time."

The picket ended at 6:00 o'clock. Arthur and I walked back to the bowling ally, going slow enough so that our Scientologist tails could follow. We got to the bowling ally and went in for four minutes, and then walked out.

Here's the fun part. :-) Arthur suggested that we "make" the tails on us before we drive off. Arthur had several electronic devices that zero in on private radio transmissions, so we knew we were being stalked. (Behavior that is illegal in Los Angeles county, last I heard.) We walked out of the bowling ally and walked all the way around the building. Arthur "made" the green compact car in a few seconds. We then turned around and started to walk around the building in the opposite direction---- and then half-way we turned and walked back the way we had come.

This is basic stalking counter-measures, but the Scientology agents fell for it hook, line, sinker, reel, and rod. Caught with their thetans down. We walked right past the guy in the brown car, and I winked at him while going past. He had a radio up to his mouth and he was pretending to talk over it (hiding his face), but he was not transmitting. (Here's a hint, franchise staff: push button before talking. Consult owner's manual for details.). Arthur and I agreed that we only had two cars stalking us, so we walked to our borrowed pickup and took off our $CIENTOLOGY KILLS! tee-shirts.

The stalker in the green car somehow misread our movements, because she drove past us and almost out of the parking lot. I suspect she expected us to walk out of the lot and down the street, and she was trying to get in position. When she saw her mistake, she looked back at Arthur and I =GRINNING WIDELY AT HER AND WAVING,= and she blushed deep red and waved back.

We got into the pickup and drove down the road. The brown car wasn't ready, so we slowed down so it could leave the parking lot and catch up with us. Eventually it did. We made two turns, making sure our tail was still with us (signaling well in advance so we wouldn't lose him), and headed towards the freeway on-ramp. I completely missed the correct on-ramp, so we waited at a light to do a U-turn. This unfortunately caught our stalker off-guard, so we waited until he caught up before making the turn. Signaling well in advance, and again driving slowly so we wouldn't lose the tail, we got on to the freeway, but we still lost the stalker. When we saw that our tail was missing, we pulled over to the side of the freeway to wait for him. Unfortunately he never showed up.

Which makes me wonder. Why would the Scientology business have one of its goons stalking people? What could this possibly accomplish? If they wanted to talk to me they need only have walked up and done so.

I plan on doing many, many, many, many more pickets in the future.